Method for identifying age based on facial feature

ABSTRACT

A method for identify age based on facial features, includes: getting a face image and capturing a face area from the face image; setting a plurality of facial feature points on the face area; defining a plurality of age feature areas on the face area based on coordinates of the plurality of feature points; acquiring age feature from the plurality of age feature area to get an age value; and comparing the age value with at least one threshold value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Patent Application No.105110456, filed on Apr. 1, 2016, the contents of which are incorporatedby reference herein.

FIELD

The subject matter herein relates to a method for identifying age basedon facial feature.

BACKGROUND

With the development of facial identification technology, user demandsfor identification of facial attributes continue to increase, such asfacial age identification. For example, facial age identification helpsto collect information of users of different age groups for analysis ofpopularity of certain products among different age groups.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by wayof example only, with reference to the attached figures.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for identifying age based on facialfeature.

FIG. 2 is diagrammatic view of capturing a face area from a face image.

FIG. 3 is diagrammatic view of setting a plurality of facial featurepoints on the face area.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view to show a distance W between the left eyeand the right eye and a distance H between the tip of the nose and amiddle portion of the two eyes.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view to show a plurality of age feature areas.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view to show sizes and positions of two eyetail areas.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view to show sizes and positions of two eyenether areas.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view to show sizes and positions of two smilefolds areas.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among thedifferent figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Inaddition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, itwill be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that theembodiments described herein can be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, methods, procedures, and components havenot been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevantfeature being described. Also, the description is not to be consideredas limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawingsare not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts may beexaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the presentdisclosure.

The term “comprising” when utilized, means “including, but notnecessarily limited to”; it specifically indicates open-ended inclusionor membership in the so-described combination, group, series and thelike.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a method for identifying age based onfacial feature. The method includes following steps.

At block 101, the method includes getting a face image and capturing aface area from the face image.

FIG. 2 illustrates a face image and a face area. Usually, the face imagenot only shows the face, but also shows other portions of the body, suchas body. The face area is captured from the face image to only includethe face.

At block 102, the method includes setting a plurality of facial featurepoints on the face area.

FIG. 3 illustrates that there are seventeen feature points set on theface area to mark eyebrow, eye, nose, and mouth. Fourth example, afeature point 1 marks a left eyebrow tail. A feature point 2 marks aleft eyebrow head. A feature point 3 marks a right eyebrow head. Afeature point 4 marks a right eyebrow tail. A feature point 5 marks anouter canthus of a left eye. A feature point 6 marks a middle portion ofthe left eye. A feature point 7 marks an inner canthrus of the left eye.A feature point 8 marks an inner canthrus of a right eye. A featurepoint 9 mark a middle portion of the right eye. A feature point 10 marksan outer canthurs of the right eye. A feature point 11 marks a leftnosewing. A feature point 12 marks a tip of the nose. A feature point 13marks a right nosewing. A feature point 14 marks a left corner of themouth. A feature point 15 marks a middle portion of a upper lip of themouth. A feature point 16 marks a right corner of the mouth. A featurepoint 17 marks a middle portion of a lower lip of the mouth.

In other embodiment, more or less feature points can be used to mark theface area, or other apparatus, such as ears, can be marked by thefeature points.

At block 103, the method includes calculating a distance W between theleft eye and the right eye and a distance H between the tip of the noseand a middle portion of the two eyes.

FIG. 4 illustrates that the face area and the feature points 1-17 arelocated in a rectangular coordinate system which includes a horizontalaxis X and a vertical axis Y. Therefore, each of the feature points 1-17has corresponding coordinate. For examples, the feature point 1 has acoordinate (X1, Y1), the feature point 2 has a coordinate (X2, Y2), andso on. For calculating the distances W and H, the coordinates of thefeature points 6, 9, and 12 are used. The feature point 6 has acoordinate (X6, Y6), the feature point 7 has a coordinate (X7, Y7), andthe feature point 9 has a coordinate (X9, Y9). The distance W betweenthe left eye and the right eye is equal to X9-X6, and the distance Hbetween the tip of the nose and a middle portion of the two eyes isequal to Y12−(Y6+Y9)/2.

At block 104, the method includes defining a plurality of age featureareas on the face area based on the distances W and H and coordinates ofthe feature points 1-17.

FIG. 5 illustrates that the plurality of age feature areas includes aleft and a right eye tail areas a and b, a left and a right eye netherareas c and d, and a left and a right smile folds areas e and f.

FIG. 6 illustrates that the left eye tail area a includes four cornersa1, a2, a3, a4 and the right eye tail area b includes four corners b1,b2, b3, b4. The positions of the corners are defined in below block.

corner X Y a1 X = X6 − W*0.6 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 a2 X = X6 − W*0.4 Y = (Y6 +Y9)/2 a3 X = X6 − W*0.6 Y = (Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8 a4 X = X6 − W*0.4 Y =(Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8 b1 X = X9 + W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 b2 X = X9 + W*0.6 Y= (Y6 + Y9)/2 b3 X = X9 + W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8 b4 X = X9 + W*0.6Y = (Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8

FIG. 7 illustrates that the left eye nether area c includes four cornersc1, c2, c3, c4 and the right eye nether area d includes four corners d1,d2, d3, d4. The positions of the corners are defined in below block.

corner X Y c1 X = X6 − W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 + H*0.35 c2 X = X6 + W*0.3Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 + H*0.35 c3 X = X6 − W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 + H*0.8 c4 X= X6 + W*0.3 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 + H*0.8 d1 X = X9 − W*0.3 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 +H*0.35 d2 X = X9 + W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9)/2 + H*0.35 d3 X = X9 − W*0.3 Y =(Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8 d4 X = X9 + W*0.4 Y = (Y6 + Y9) + H*0.8

FIG. 8 illustrates that the left smile folds area e includes fourcorners e1, e2, e3, e4 and the right smile folds area f includes fourcorners f1, f2, f3, f4. The positions of the corners are defined inbelow block.

corner X Y e1 X = X6 − W*0.32 Y = Y12 e2 X = X6 − W*0.05 Y = Y12 e3 X =X6 − W*0.32 Y = (Y14 + Y16)/2 e4 X = X6 − W*0.05 Y = (Y14 + Y16)/2 f1 X= X9 + W*0.05 Y = Y12 f2 X = X9 + W*0.32 Y = Y12 f3 X = X9 + W*0.05 Y =(Y14 + Y16)/2 f4 X = X9 + W*0.32 Y = (Y14 + Y16)/2

Therefore, positions and sizes of the age feature areas a-f are defined.

At block 105, the method includes adjusting same type age feature areasinto a same size.

In the age feature areas a-f, the two eye tail areas a and b are sametype age feature areas, two eye nether areas c and d are same type agefeature areas, and two smile folds areas e and f are same type agefeature areas. For example, the eye tail area a has a length of 9millimeters and a height of 6 millimeters. The eye tail area b has alength of 6 millimeters and a height of 8 millimeters. The size of theeye tail area a is adjusted to shorten the length of eye tail area a to6 millimeters, and lengthen the height of the eye tail area a to 8millimeters. Therefore, the eye tail areas a and b have a same size.

At block 106, the method includes transferring the face area into aprocessed image by Modified Census Transform method.

In one embodiment, the Modified Census Transform method defines theclear image into a plurality of small areas each of which includes ninepixels aligned into three rows three columns. In each small area, anaverage pixel value of the nine pixels is calculated. The average pixelvalue is compared to the pixel value of each pixel. When pixel value ofone pixel is larger than the average pixel value, the pixel value of thepixel is changed to “1”. When pixel value of one pixel is not largerthan the average pixel value, the pixel value of the pixel is changed to“0”.

At block 107, the method includes acquiring age feature from theprocessed image to get an age value, and comparing the age value with afirst threshold value to check whether the age value is smaller than thefirst threshold. If the age value is smaller than the first threshold,go to step 109. If the age value is not smaller than the firstthreshold, go to step 108.

At block 108, the method includes comparing the age value with a secondthreshold value to check whether the age value is smaller than thesecond threshold. If the age value is not smaller than the secondthreshold, go to step 111. If the age value is smaller than the secondthreshold, go to step 110.

At block 109, the method includes judging belonging to youth.

At block 110, the method includes judging belonging to middle age.

At block 111, the method includes judging belonging to the old.

In the above method, the age is defined by setting facial feature pointsto get age feature areas.

The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Therefore,many such details are neither shown nor described. Even though numerouscharacteristics and advantages of the present technology have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure isillustrative only, and changes may be made in the detail, including inmatters of shape, size, and arrangement of the parts within theprinciples of the present disclosure, up to and including the fullextent established by the broad general meaning of the terms used in theclaims. It will therefore be appreciated that the embodiments describedabove may be modified within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method to identify age based on facialfeatures, comprising: getting a face image and capturing a face areafrom the face image; setting a plurality of facial feature points on theface area; defining a plurality of age feature areas on the face areabased on coordinates of the plurality of feature points; adjusting sametypes of age feature areas into a same size; acquiring age feature fromthe plurality of age feature area to get an age value; and comparing theage value with at least one threshold value.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of facial feature points mark eyebrow, eye, nose,and mouth of the face image.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein there areseventeen feature points to mark a left eyebrow tail, a left eyebrowhead, a right eyebrow head, a right eyebrow tail, an outer canthus of aleft eye, a middle portion of the left eye, an inner canthrus of theleft eye, an inner canthrus of a right eye, a middle portion of theright eye, an outer canthurs of the right eye, a left nosewing, a tip ofthe nose, a right nosewing, a left corner of the mouth, a middle portionof a upper lip of the mouth, a right corner of the mouth, and a middleportion of a lower lip of the mouth.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinbefore defining the plurality of age feature areas on the face areabased on coordinates of the plurality of feature points, a distancebetween the left eye and the right eye and a distance between the tip ofthe nose and a middle portion of the two eyes are calculated.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the plurality of age feature areas includes aleft eye tail area, a right eye tail area, a left eye nether area, aright eye nether area, a left smile folds area and a right smile foldarea.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the left and right eye tailareas are same type age feature areas, the left and right eye netherareas are same type age feature areas, and the left and right smilefolds areas are same type age feature areas.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the face area is processed into a processed image by ModifiedCensus Transform method before acquiring age feature from the pluralityof age feature area.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onethreshold value comprises a first threshold value and a second thresholdvalue, and the age value is compared to the second threshold value whenthe age value is not smaller than the first threshold value.
 9. A methodto identify age based on facial features, comprising: getting a faceimage and capturing a face area from the face image; setting a pluralityof facial feature points on the face area; defining a plurality of agefeature areas on the face area based on coordinates of the plurality offeature points; adjusting same types of age feature areas into a samesize; acquiring age feature from the plurality of age feature area toget an age value; comparing the age value with a first threshold valueand a second threshold value, and defining belong to youth when the agevalue is smaller than the first threshold value, defining belong tomiddle age when the age value is not smaller than the first thresholdvalue but smaller than the second threshold value, defining belong tothe old when the age value is not smaller than the second thresholdvalue.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of facialfeature points mark eyebrow, eye, nose, and mouth of the face image. 11.The method of claim 10, wherein there are seventeen feature points tomark a left eyebrow tail, a left eyebrow head, a right eyebrow head, aright eyebrow tail, an outer canthus of a left eye, a middle portion ofthe left eye, an inner canthrus of the left eye, an inner canthrus of aright eye, a middle portion of the right eye, an outer canthurs of theright eye, a left nosewing, a tip of the nose, a right nosewing, a leftcorner of the mouth, a middle portion of a upper lip of the mouth, aright corner of the mouth, and a middle portion of a lower lip of themouth.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein before defining the pluralityof age feature areas on the face area based on coordinates of theplurality of feature points, a distance between the left eye and theright eye and a distance between the tip of the nose and a middleportion of the two eyes are calculated.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the plurality of age feature areas includes a left eye tailarea, a right eye tail area, a left eye nether area, a right eye netherarea, a left smile folds area and a right smile fold area.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the left and right eye tail areas are sametype age feature areas, the left and right eye nether areas are sametype age feature areas, and the left and right smile folds areas aresame type age feature areas.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theface area is processed into a processed image by Modified CensusTransform method before acquiring age feature from the plurality of agefeature area.